If You Have Spring Fever, Look at These!

At first glance, it looks like a giant child armed with a box of crayons has been set loose upon the landscape. Vivid stripes of purple, yellow, red, pink, orange and green make up a glorious patchwork





.



 Yet far from being a child?s sketchbook, this is, in fact, the northern Netherlands in the middle of tulip season.









 The Dutch landscape in May is a kaleidoscope of color as the tulips burst into life.












The bulbs are planted in late October and early November.  More than three billion tulips are grown each year and two-thirds of the vibrant blooms are exported, mostly to the U.S. and Germany.












Their dazzling colors are thanks to the years in the 17th century when tulip mania swept the globe and the most eye-catching specimens changed hands for a small fortune.










  But like a Rainbow, this colorful landscape is a short-lived phenomenon.  When the flowers are gone,
the land will be cultivated for a rather more mundane crop of vegetables.











The Netherlands produce more than nine million bulbs a year.





Ready for Spring yet?   I know I am!   SHALOM  Y'ALL - 
                              Twyla

Febru-ugly Is Almost Over

Febru-ugly. That's what my Hubby calls this month. And, I must say, today is a fairly ugly day.  It rained last night; we need the rain, but I am tired of the gray skies, the gray trees, the gray state of my spirit. Will there ever be another day at the beach, feeding the fish, floating on my raft, soaking up that Vitamin D?

chimney still standing after homestead burned many years ago

I didn't get much sleep again last night. I could blog  about that subject alone and have something to say 'most every day... But, who would want to read a blog about chronic pain, financial worries, and sleeplessness?  No, I will keep that to myself. Suffice to say, lack of sleep does not make a happy combination with gray skies.
Most of life is mundane for most people. Whatever  joy one finds, one must find alone with God - nobody else can provide this for you with some sort of magic pixie dust - it just ain't gonna' happen!

I am so-o-o-o ready for Spring. For a flower or two to poke through the earth and open into bloom. For the trees to have lime green leaves and various blossoms of pink and white and purple.
But, for now, I will plod on through my chores... And, as always, the sun will peek through eventually.

a dusting of snow on the nearby mountains...

SHALOM   Y'ALL -


     TWYLA